Slack-adjuster for railway-brakes.



H. G. HAMER.

SLACK ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY BRAKES.

. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1a, 1909. 944,609, 'Patented Dec. 28, 1909. 2 sums-SHEET 1.

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H. G.1HAMBR. SLAOK ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY BRAKES. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1a, 1909.

Patented 1386.28, 1909.

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`HABVEY Gr. HAMER, 0F HOOVERSVILLE, SYLVANIA.'

'ISI'.AGIQADJUSTER Fon RAILWAY-Barinas.

To allwwm it 'may concern:

' Be it known that I, HARVEY Gr. I-IAMEE, a

citizen of the. United States, residing at Hooversville, in the county of Somerset, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Slack- Adjusters for Railway-Brakes; and I do hereby `declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suchas will enable others skilled in the art .to which it appertain's to make and use the Sttme.

This invention relates to railroad brakes' vide a means whereby the fulcrum of a brake lever may be shifted when slack exists in the brake mechanism, said means ceasing to operate when the proper adjustment of the brakes has been attained. 4A third object of this invention is to provide a means of this character which can bev readily applied to any existing brake arrangement. y

` With the above and other objects in view the invention ,consists in general of a brake 4mechanism and certain other mechanism operable by the movementof a brake lever to vary the position of the fulcrum of that lever, the latter mechanism lying beyond the limit of movement of the lever when the brakes are in proper adjustment and being in position to be actuated thereby when slack exist-s in the brake mechanism.

' The invention further consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations of part-s hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

and specifically set forth in the claims.

-fIn the accompanymg drawings, likecharacters of reference indicate like parts 1n the several views, and :-F igure l is a side elelvation of acar truck equipped with this invention, certain of the parts of the truck being omitted more clearly to show the ap- A plication of the device. Fig. 2 is an end View. thereof. Fig. 3 is a top plan .view therof. Fig. 4 is a view of the fulcrum Speccation of Letters latent. Pagnted Dec, 2S.,

Application led August 18, 1909. Serial No. 513,458.

adjusting lever. Fig. 5 is a view of a cer- Itain lever actuating block used with this invention. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a housing adapted to cover the working part-s of this invention. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7 7' of Fig. 3. Fig. 8 is a'detail per spective of the locking pawls and means for lifting the same. K

The numeral l() indicates an ordinary type of truck bolster` which is supported on truck frames ll-carried by the usual wheels I2. As previously. noted, certain parts of the truck frames are omitted more clearly` to# n showthe application of the device, and the form of frame is purely conventional as the same forms no .part of this invention.

Depending from the truck bolster l0 are brake hangers 13 wherefrom are swung brake blocks 14 provided ywith theusual brake shoes 15. rThese brake blocks are connected by some ordinary type of brake beam as indicated at 16 and the parts thus far described may be of the ordinary character.

At 1T is a live brake lever one-end of which is attached to the forward set of brake shoes and to the upper end of this lever is attached the usual secondary brake rod 1S. At l()y is afulcrum pin for the lever IT and this fulcrum pin is connected to` one end of a lower bra-ke rod 20. The rear or dead brake .lever is of peculiar construction and the lower endthereof is attached to the rear brake beam 16, the lever being indicated at 2l, and this lever is likewise provided with a fulerum pin 22 whereto the free end ofthe lower .brake rod 20 isattaehed. The upper end of, this lever `is twistedto lie 'substantially at right angles to the plane of the lowerend and this upper end is forked to form a pair o f parallel Secured to the truck bolster is the usual brake lever guide Q4 and'in place of this guide onthe rear of the truck bolster there is provided a frame 'comprising a U-shaped central portionQG having outwardly eX- tending,portions 27 so that. the entire device isV provided with an opening in the shape of the letter T. This frame 26 1s also provided with abase plate 28 and both frame and :base plate are bolted firmly to the truck bolster. i Both the frame and base plate are furthermore provided with suitablev alined perforations to receive ascrew Q9 whereon kis ixedly mounted a ratchet 30 and on this screw moves a `sliding block or 45 this guide eye passes a second link 40 which -have oppositely curved sides as can be clearly seen by reference to Fig. 5, the purpose of these sides being to permit variations in the angle of the arms with relation to the block. is attached to the rear brake beam 16 and it will new be'apparent, from an inspection of Y screw 29 andfon this arm 43 is carried a pin Fig. 1, that if lthe forked eiid of the lever 21 be i'oved toward the lolster the fulcruin pin 19 will also tend to move in the same direction so that if the secondary brake rod 18 be held stationary the front brake shoes 15 will be brought into contact with the front wheels 12 of the truck. At tlie same time if this movement continues the fulcrum pin 19 will cease to move forward and-the rear brake shoes 15 will be forced into contact with the rear wheels 12. N ow, since the entire device is flexible these operations will take place substantially ina simultaneous manner. That iS to say, the brake shoes 15 will each be forced toward their respective wheels as the block 31 is moved toward the bolster 10. Furthermore, as is common in brake mechanism, if one pair of brake shoes does not engage. tightly the slack will be distributed between both pairs. In order to' actuate this screw when slack exists there is provided a bracket 34 whereoii is pivoted a lever 35. This lever is arranger. to have one end lie in the path of the brake lever 17 and this end is so positioned that when the brakes are properly adjusted the movement of the brake lever willnot move the lever 35 but, when slack exists in the brakes, the brake lever 17 will strike the end of the lever 35 and move the same. To the end of this lever opposite that which is struck by the brake lever 17 is attached one arm of a bell crank lever 37 pivoted to the bolster 1() as at 38. At 39 is a guide eye and through is .pivoted'to the free arm of the bell crank lever 37. Upon this second link is a collar 41 and betweenthe collar and guide eye is a spring 42 which normally presses the collar away from the guide eye and causes, through the medium of the bell crank lever 37 and link 36, the lever 35 lto rest in such position that the brake lever .17 Will actuate the same when the brakes are slack, The free end of the link 40 is connected to a swinging arm 43 pivoted on 'a .cylindrical portion ofthe 44 wliereon are mounted pawls 45, these pawls being so arranged that they are of unequal lengths .so thatl the ratchet has the same value as a ratchet with a much greater number of teeth. Now, if it be supposed that 'slack exists in the brake mechanism the brake lever 17 will require to be moved more The lower end of the lever 21- fvers, the arm 43 and in consequence the pawls will be drawn back over the ratchet until one or the other engages the ratchet teeth. When the brakes are released the spring 42 will force the pawls forward and thus tui-n the ratchet, which being xed to the screw, will in turn operate the screw and cause the block 3l to move inward. By'ths means any slack existing is compensated for by the movement of the lever 35 and consequently of the block 31. A

In order to hold the ratchet in adjusted position whilethe pawls 45 are being drawn back thereover other pawls are provided. These pawls are indicated at 46 and are of the same arrangement as the pawls-45. Thev moved to rotate the shaft and bring the arm '48 up underneath the pawls and raise the same from-the ratchet. The pawls 45 may be lifted from the ratchet by hand or by means of a suitable tool, it not being .deemed necessary to make provision for mechanically lifting them. If the brakes become, for any reason, set too tight, the two'sets ofpawls may be raised from the ratchet and a crankapplied to 'the end ofthescrew and rotated, the end being squared or otherwise shaped to receive such a crank as indicated at- 50.

In order to protect this mechanism from dirt and dust a casing is provided which is shown inFig. 6, and this casing is T-shaped in plan so that it ts closely over the :traine l 26 to which it may be secured by suitable bolts or screws passing through Aopenings therein. The casing is indicated in Fig. 6 at 51 and the bolt openings at 52. This casing is furthermore provided with` a small slidingdoor 53 so positioned as to afford r ady access to the pawls, so that a suitable fol may be inserted for raising the pawls f om the ratchet. l

From the foregoin the operation ofthe device, when slack exists in the'brake mechanism, will be apparent. It will also be vob-A vious that when the proper adjustment of the brakes has been made the lever 17 will no longer.l strike the lever 35 and conse- It is thus seen that this mechanism is 'oper-Y able by the movement ,of the brake lever and variesl the-position of the brakelever tulcrum, and that this ineiiiaiiisinlies beyond the limitof 'movement ofthe lever. when tbe brakes are in lproper adjustment. There has thus been provided a simple and efficient devicey ofthe kind described and-for the purposespecied. i

Having thus described .the invention, what Vis claimed as new, is f v l lt. In a slack adjuster, a brake mechanism including a live lever, a fulcriimtheretor, an operating lever operable by the movement of the live lever when the brake is slack, and a step by step mechanism actuated by the o erating lever to move said4 fulcruin and tighten said brake mechanism, said step by step mechanism including a linkconnected to said tulcrum, a dead lever connected to said link, a sliding block operatively connected to one end-of the dead lever, a screw on which said block is mounted `for movement, a ratchet fixed to said screw, and pawls operatively connected to said operating Alever and engagedwith the ratchet.

.2. vIn a slack adjuster, a brake mechanism including a live lever, a fulcrum therefor, f

an operating lever operable the moveinent of the live lever when the brake is movement, a ratchet fixed to said screw,` a

swinging arm on said screw, a pawl on said ariii engaging thel ratchet, a bell crank, a link connecting said bell crank and operating .lever,a'"se'cond link connecting said arm and bell crank, a fixed guide eye, a collar on said second link, and a spring between said guide "eye and collar noriigially urging the pawl to rotate the ratchet.

ln testimony whereof, I atlixmy signature,

iii presence of two witnesses.

HARVEY G. iriiuian.

' vitnesses L. N, GILLIS, GEO. H. GHANDLEE. 

